Educators Lament Verdict Will Remove Influential Leader From National Scene

Educators around the nation last week expressed sorrow at the
conviction of Bill Honig on conflict-of-interest charges, lamenting
that the verdict would remove one of the pre-eminent national
educational leaders from the scene.

But they also said that the California superintendent of public
instruction has been so successful at pressing his views over the past
decade that his influence will be felt around the country even in his
absence.

"Ideas that were quite original with him have so permeated
educational discourse,'' said Diane S. Ravitch, a former assistant U.S.
secretary of education, who testified as a character witness for Mr.
Honig. "A lot of people don't know they are following the model he
originated.''

Long before the term "systemic reform'' was coined, Ms. Ravitch and
others said, Mr. Honig emphasized a coherent set of policies aimed at
improving student learning. The policies included high standards for
student performance, reforms in curriculum and materials, and
alternative assessments, all of which are now the focus of reform
efforts nationwide.

With his forceful personality and his record of achievement,
observers said, Mr. Honig used his bully pulpit as the chief school
officer in the largest state to persuade educators in other states to
accept his ideas.

Mr. Honig's conviction stopped him from leading a national systemic
school-reform initiative. As a result of his suspension from office,
Mr. Honig had to step down as the president of the Council of Chief
State School Officers, which had named systemic reform its top priority
for the year.

But because of Mr. Honig's work, the organization will be able to
continue its efforts without him, said Gordon M. Ambach, the executive
director of the C.C.S.S.O.

"We will miss his personal contributions on [the issue],'' Mr.
Ambach said. "But the concepts he advocated have now been thoroughly
accepted by many of the chiefs and the work of the council. I think we
will be prepared to carry on his agenda.''

Putting It Together

First elected in 1982, shortly before the influential report A
Nation at Risk was released, Mr. Honig quickly put together a sweeping
school-reform proposal, as many state officials did at the time.

But unlike many other state plans, Mr. Honig's was a coherent
package, rather than a set of unrelated reforms, according to Frank
Newman, the president of the Education Commission of the States.

"He was one of the few people, especially when he started, who had
any clear idea of how the pieces fit together,'' Mr. Newman said. "And
he attempted to address all of them, instead of pieces.''

Moreover, said Ms. Ravitch, his proposals were unusual in that they
focused on student outcomes.

"He said, 'You begin reform by saying what you want children to
learn, and work backwards from there,''' Ms. Ravitch said. "Now,
everybody is saying that.''

Specifically, Mr. Honig developed a set of "curriculum frameworks''
for each major subject area that outlined standards for instruction at
each grade level, and then set out to link other pieces of the
system--such as textbook adoption and tests--to the frameworks.

Mr. Honig brought the curriculum, textbook, and assessment offices
under the same umbrella in the state education department.

He also attempted to develop teacher-training programs tied to the
frameworks as well, but was thwarted by a lack of funds.

A Long Line of Adversaries

Still, Mr. Honig's efforts also earned him a long line of
adversaries within California.

His use of his bully pulpit often angered critics, who charged that
he was overeager in calling for myriad reforms, would never be
satisfied with state spending, and pushed a liberal agenda on
schools.

Mr. Honig waged a bitter running battle, for example, with Joseph
Carrabino, then the chairman of the state board of education, over
control of school policy. He also engaged repeatedly in high-profile
public disputes with the state's Republican Governors, George
Deukmejian and Pete Wilson, over budget policy.

Some observers also argued that Mr. Honig's legacy must be assessed
in light of the precarious situation of California education. While the
state chief cannot be held accountable for everything that goes on in a
five-million-student school system, the fact remains that since he took
office California schools have slipped far below the national average
in per-pupil funding, and test scores and dropout rates have shown
little improvement.

Moreover, one of Mr. Honig's most prominent achievements--passage by
the voters in 1988 of a constitutional funding guarantee for the
schools--is now widely seen in the state as in tatters under the impact
of the state's unrelenting recession.

National Influence

While noting that the budget crunch has threatened Mr. Honig's
initiatives, Mr. Newman of the E.C.S. said, "I would argue that he was
quite successful.''

In addition to their effects on California schools, Mr. Newman
added, Mr. Honig's reforms have had a strong influence nationally.

Perhaps the best known of these efforts was the superintendent's
attempt to reform textbooks.

Using his state's vast purchasing power as leverage, Mr. Honig
demanded that publishers submit for adoption only textbooks that
reflect the state's curriculum frameworks, which were in many ways
sharply different from traditional instructional practice. In several
cases, most notably with science and mathematics textbooks, Mr. Honig
refused to adopt books that failed to match the standards and ordered
publishers to rewrite them.

Roger Rogalin, the vice president of the school division of the
Association of American Publishers, said the campaigns succeeded in
getting publishers to rewrite the books they sold to California and
elsewhere.

"I don't agree with his methods, but I do think they were effective
in causing changes in curricula,'' Mr. Rogalin said.

In addition to the textbook reforms, the curriculum frameworks
themselves had a national impact, both by demonstrating a way to set
standards in school subjects and by offering a guide for what the
content of such standards might be.

"He made an extremely important contribution to the [national]
curriculum debate,'' said Chester E. Finn Jr., currently a member of
the core team for Whittle Communications' Edison Project.

'The Bees Struck Back'

Mr. Finn said the fact that Mr. Honig was able to show the effects
of reforms in the largest state helped influence the rest of the
nation.

"California's scale was certainly an asset for Bill,'' Mr. Finn
said. "The superintendent in Delaware happens to be a terrific guy. But
Delaware is not California.''

Mr. Honig's personal qualities, particularly his energy and his
intellect, also made him influential, noted Albert Shanker, the
president of the American Federation of Teachers.

"There isn't anybody like him on the national scene,'' Mr. Shanker
said.

At the same time, however, the forceful personality and zest for
battle that made him a figure on the national stage may also have set
the scene for his downfall, some observers suggested.

After years of battling with Republicans in the Statehouse, Ms.
Ravitch said, the Republicans seized upon his "mistake in
judgment.''

"He knocked over a lot of bees' nests,'' she said. "The bees struck
back.''

"He had courage and vision,'' Ms. Ravitch said. "Those qualities are
in short supply among school leaders.''

Vol. 12, Issue 20

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